What is the Best Single Serve Coffee Maker?

Are you away from home and need a single serve coffee maker? Single cup brewers are so popular these days that there are a good number of them on the market. It can get a bit confusing making up your mind on which single cup brewer to invest in. But, I have done a bit of research and I want to share it with you. So, grab a cup of your favourite drink (coffee, I suppose?) and follow me as I do a thorough review of single serve brewing systems and why you should consider using them.

3 Reasons to Get a Single Cup Coffee Maker

If you read my review of the best coffee makers under $100, you’d notice I mentioned 3 brewers makers that make twelve cups per time. Now, this is perfect for the office or a dinner but a casual coffee drinker doesn’t need that much. With an average brewer, if you only drink one or two cups a day, you are wasting ten or eleven cups. That's a lot of waste!

Another thing is, if you buy a big can of coffee, it will most likely get stale after a while and amount to a waste of money. Avert waste by getting a single cup brewer and make just the amount of coffee you need per time.

A single serve coffee maker brews a higher quality of coffee than a multi-cup brewing system. This is because the latter is designed for speed (making more cups of coffee per time), while the former is designed for quality (to make one premium cup of coffee).

Advantages of a Single Serve Coffee Maker

Most single cup brewers can easily be carried around. They can be packed with your luggage if you’re travelling or going on a vacation.

They are quick to brew and highly efficient

They are easy to clean.

There is no mess or stress with using them as you don’t have to measure the coffee grounds; the coffee capsules or pods always have the same amount of coffee.

They eliminate the grinding of coffee beans by making use of coffee beans already in special pods or capsules

They need no additional filters

Any user can make his or her favourite cup of coffee when they want it, unlike the multi-cup brewers which make the same coffee flavour for everybody.

Disadvantages of a Single Serve Coffee Brewer

A major disadvantage of the single cup machines is that they only make one cup per brewing cycle. If you are catering to guests, you will have to run back and forth, replace coffee pods, and make individual cups. Your guests might however appreciate the excellent aroma and higher quality, so that is left for you to decide.

Yet another disadvantage is the issue of pods or capsules not being compatible with some machines. So, you end up using a specific brand of coffee pods for specific brand of machines but the situation is gradually improving with some brands of brewing systems already offering compatibility with more than one brand of pods or capsules.

When compared with drip machines, the cost per cup of coffee from a single cup brewer is higher. Even though it’s a direct consequence of the price of coffee pods or capsules, coffee lovers say the quality and taste of the coffee obtained is worth every dollar spent on it.

Now, let me quickly introduce you to some highly-rated single serve brewing systems and tell you more about each of them:

Mr. Coffee Single Serve Coffee Brewer is unique when it comes to single cup brewing. With more than 200 K-Cup packs to choose from,this Single Serve Brewer allows you choose between a 6-ounce serving and a 10-ounce serving. It has a 24-ounce removable water reservoir and perfect for larger cups or travel mugs. You can make gourmet coffee, tea, hot cocoa and more with Mr Coffee Single Cup coffee machine.

With solid 5-star reviews, this Single Serve Brewer is easy to use, as you can see from the video below.

This is a huge benefit over the Mr Coffee brand as these coffee pods do get expensive and stale some times. Users of the Hamilton beach single serve can have their coffee in any flavour of their choice (hazelnut, caramel, vanilla, etc), any strength (Regular or Bold) and any brand (Dunkin Donuts, Starbucks, etc).

Simple to use but ideal for brewing a delicious cup of coffee each time you turn it on, the Hamilton beach would add a lot of colour and taste to your coffee-drinking habit. What’s more, it eliminates waste totally by the addition of the mesh scoop filter that gives users a variety of taste, flavours and strength.

A major disadvantage is that you constantly have to refill the water reservoir, which is just 24 oz. of water.

Unlike the Hamilton Beach single serve, the Cuisinart SS-700 Single Serve has a large removable water reservoir which eliminates the need for frequent refills. Its' reservoir holds 80-ounces of water.

It brews fresh gourmet coffee, tea, hot cocoa, and more in less than one minute. Fully programmable with blue backlit LCD with digital clock, adjustable temperature, and auto on/off, the Cuisinart SS-7oo works in concert with K-Cup to give you different brewing size options. It however goes a step further to give you the K-Cup reusable coffee filter, which allows you to use your own ground coffee (if that's your preference).

Aside making tea, coffee and hot cocoa, the Cuisinart SS-700 is equipped to dispense hot water to make hot chocolate, tea, soup, and more. Call it a multi-functional single cup brewer and you won’t be mistaken. See it in action in the video below: